AZHUNTER05 Report post Posted August 29, 2014 What a great bear season! My buddy and I headed out to camp a few days before the hunt to get a good camp spot and do some glassing before opening day. Before I arrived in camp my buddy Jim had already glassed up three bears! Being that we didn't see any bears in 2013, we were pretty excited for opening day to get here. Opening day Jim and I hiked out a few miles to a spot he had seen a couple bears prior to the hunt. After a long hike in, Jim and I set up and began glassing at first light. After a few hours of not seeing any bears, I decided to head back to camp and check out a few different areas. As I hiked back, I found 12 hunters glassing the mountain range where we had hiked into! I found it weirded that four different groups of hunters would glass the same area with in a 100 yards of our camp and of each other! I guess I just don't like hunting in crowds? After a quick nap and lunch, I headed out to do some glassing checking multiple different areas I've hunted in the past. I made it to the last spot I wanted to glass before dark and glassed up a bear within 100 yards away from another hunters ranger . It was almost dark when I spotted the bear, so I tried to get in close but decided to back off and come in the next morning. The next morning Jim and I were set up in the spot I glassed the bear the night prior. About 45 minutes after the sun came up a group of hunters came in late and parked their utv's right in the middle of where we were glassing! Oh well, that's public land hunting! We continued to glass when we observed three of the hunters gearing up and heading off in a hurry. I finally spotted the bear they observed on the mountain and couldn't do anything but standby and watch ( more like quietly root for the bear to escape ). The bear seemed to catch on to the hunters real fast and took off up the hill in a hurry! To say the least I was a little excited the bear survived. However I would have still been excited for the other hunters if the bear had been taken. We went back to camp after watching the failed bear stalk and returned for the evening hunt. Right away I glassed up a bear and he was on the move! I headed up the mountain as fast as possible and ended up losing the bear after a long tough hike. I hiked back to our utv's a little disappointed and started glassing again. I put my eyes up to my bino's and the first thing I see is a bear! I'm tired so I send my buddy Jim after it, but it got dark long before he made it close enough for a shot. We headed back in again on Sunday morning and I glass the bear up under the same juniper as the night prior! I grab my gear and head out closing the distance fast. I set up on opposite side of the mountain from the bear and spot it feeding in the pears. I lay down and get a good rest, and range the bear at 412 yards and dailed my turret and took the shot. I hear a loud smack, and knew it was a hit! However the bear didn't seem to be doing fine!?! He moved up hill from his original spot, so I aimed over his back and let a second round fly. Right over it! I grabbed my range finder and range 419 and dialed my turret again. I squeeze off a third round, and hear a loud smack! The bear tumbles a 100 yards down the mountain and stops moving. Finally he's down! Or, so I thought! The bear then gets up walks up the mountain and falls over twice. The second time it falls over, I lose it in a cut on the mountain. Being that we could no longer see the bear, I gave it 45 minutes then went over to where I believed it would be lying. Once I got to the area we last seen it, I found a blood trail and drag marks. I started tracking the bear and after 300 yards or so, I come around a tree and see my bear! However he was still alive and not real happy with me to say the least! I pull up my rifle (the scope still being on 20 magnification) and squeeze the trigger. Click! Oh no, I forgot to load another round! I quickly chamber around as the bear turns away from me and take a quick shot. The bear spins around and is now coming at me! I rack in another round and send one into its chest! It falls to the ground and begins growling and making a loud noise I had never heard before! I begin to think he is down for the count, but again he gets back up. I fire another round and he is finally down for good! Wow, what a rush that was! I radio'd my buddy letting him know my bear was finally down! After some high fives and a few pictures, the work began! We carried the bear down a wash about a mile to the utv's and barely managed to get into the back of teryx! In hind sight it probably would have been easier to quarter it out out, but it seemed like a easy pack out at the time! We hunted until Wednesday and spotted a bear on the last morning but ended up losing it on the stalk. It would have been great to fill two tags, but after last years bear hunt being the worst hunt I had ever been on, we were pretty excited to have one bear down. Oh, and did I mention, up until Friday I had never seen a bear before? With a little luck, a good pear season, and a little help from the man up stairs, we got it done and had a great time. In the end we spotted 9 bears, a mountain lion, lots of deer, and a coatimundi! Sorry for the long read, and good luck to everyone this season 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Couzer Report post Posted August 29, 2014 Wow great job! What a rush I bet!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AZbowhntr Report post Posted August 29, 2014 Nice bear. Sounds like it was pretty tough and didn't want to go down. It also sounds like you were in a pretty good area. What bullets were you using? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rcdinaz Report post Posted August 29, 2014 Great story, congratulations! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
capoeirajosh Report post Posted August 29, 2014 Nice read!! Great looking bear as well. The last pic is awesome. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DUG Report post Posted August 29, 2014 Congrats! Hard work pays off! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AZHUNTER05 Report post Posted August 29, 2014 Thanks guys! I'm shooting a .308, with 168 grn hornady amax's. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
6ANut Report post Posted August 29, 2014 Good read and nice bear, love that cat helping glass. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lucky Draw Report post Posted August 29, 2014 Congrats! Nice write up on the adventure. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
madx250 Report post Posted August 29, 2014 Congratulations! You guys must be tuff to carry it out like that, those bears are heavy! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
trphyhntr Report post Posted August 29, 2014 nice. what caliber rifle? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PelaPapas Report post Posted August 29, 2014 Great story and congrats on your bear! Pretty cool to have never seen a bear before and fill your tag! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
azcouesfanatic Report post Posted August 30, 2014 Way to go Cameron. You guys have really been getting after it. Glad to see it pay off. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kidso Report post Posted September 2, 2014 Nice brown color. Any pictures looking down on him from above? How far was the lion you saw? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AZHUNTER05 Report post Posted September 2, 2014 Thanks for all the comments, guys. Kidso I didn't take any pictures looking down at it. I glassed the lion up about a mile away. We used dogs the next day, but they lost it's track unfortunately. However we did find two lion kills in the area and the hounds men treed two kittens and their mom the same area prior to helping me out. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
